Arsenal won't crumble insists Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott today denied Arsenal’s season is now in decline and accused Chelsea of playing boring football to stop his side going top of the Premier League.

Last night’s 0-0 draw at home to the Blues means Arsenal have gone four games without a win in all competitions and some of the early-season spark is now missing from their play.

Arsene Wenger’s side have not won a trophy since 2005 and although they held a five-point lead in the League two and a half weeks ago they are now second to Liverpool on goal difference and are only two points clear of fifth-placed Everton.

But Walcott is not alarmed and told Standard Sport: “Going into Christmas joint top is not a sign of us faltering. It’s a very competitive League this year, a lot of teams have got much better.

“Every game is very difficult but going in joint top on Christmas Day, we’re very pleased. We need to work hard now to forget about the 36 points we have at the moment and get another three against West Ham on Boxing Day.

“We need to start getting the wins again, we haven’t won for a few matches now. But we’re still up there and showing strength. We just have to get back to our best. It’s important not to lose at this time of year, especially against one of the top teams as well. It’s so close, you can’t really call it this year and it will go right down to the wire.

“It will be a good battle against West Ham. They had a good result against Tottenham in the Capital One Cup so we have to make sure we’re ready.”

Walcott feels Chelsea’s cautious tactics were a sign they were too frightened to play an open game at the Emirates.

“It was a shame we didn’t create too many chances but when you have a team who come here to be negative, it’s difficult to break them down,” said the Arsenal forward.

“I was a little bit surprised by Chelsea’s approach. Looking at the team they had attacking players in Eden Hazard, Willian and Fernando Torres. They did go for it at stages but when it felt like being a 0-0, they wanted to make sure it stayed a 0-0.

“Was it a vote of confidence for us for them to play that way? Without a doubt. It gives us a lot of pleasure to know a team like Chelsea are very cautious when they play Arsenal.”

During an ill-tempered match, Chelsea had two lucky escapes with John Obi Mikel avoiding a red card for a crunching tackle on Mikel Arteta while Willian’s clumsy lunge on Walcott could have led to a penalty.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was furious with referee Mike Dean over both controversial incidents and Walcott felt he should have been awarded a spot-kick.

“I did think it was a penalty,” he said. “I’m an honest player, I don’t just go to ground but the ref didn’t give it so it’s a shame. I will watch it back but I’m confident it was a penalty. Did I talk to Mike about it? It’s very difficult to talk to the refs. He had his opinion and had to make a decision at the time. I did feel it was a penalty.”

Asked about the challenge on Arteta, Walcott replied: “It is hard for me to comment. Everyone will have their opinions.

“But after losing 6-3 against Manchester City last week, it was important to have a very good defensive performance. When you concede six after being a very good defensive team this season, it’s very hard to come back from that. You need to react in the right way. We did that against Chelsea.”